Power. We all have power, power in our cars & trucks, power in our bikes, power to get things done. The power to make choices. Sometimes though we feel like we don’t have any power. If the money runs out before the end of the month, we don’t have the power to pay our bills. If one of our children falls and gets hurt, we don’t have the power to fix it. We can only hold them, clean the wound, bandage it up and wait for it to heal. If we have a motorcycle accident, it is the same way. We can’t fix it, we can only go to a plumber (otherwise know as a doctor), and get a patch, while we wait for it to heal. But there is someone that does have power, the power to help us pay our bills. The power to heal our wounds, whether they are physical scratches, scrapes and breaks, or whether they are emotional. He has the power, and He uses it to heal. Have you ever been healed?

Well, as I sit here in my shorts in an air conditioned house, while the temperature outside reads 97.3 degrees at 3:30 in the afternoon, on it’s way to about 99 by 5 PM, I am pondering the Sunday sermon this morning about suffering. The topic was “Suffering, an Internal Conflict”. You see, the internal suffering we do is because of the choices we have. We have a choice of whether to say the hurtful things we think, during intense conversations. We can let out the thoughts that pop into our brains, or we can realize they come from somewhere that isn’t helpful, and hold those thoughts inside, not letting them out as verbal bullets. That is the suffering part. Our emotions tell us that we want to say the things that hurt people, and if we don’t, we suffer from being on the receiving end of such comments. It isn’t a fun thing, but it is the choice we have. The choice to be like Christ, or to be like the voice in our heads tells us to be. We have a choice, a simple choice but not an easy choice. Have you ever heard yourself making an argument with your voice, and part of your brain, while another part of you brain sits around thinking this is stupid, why am I doing this? I have, and I suspect many of you have as well. I have a choice, a decision to make. The question is how will I make it?

Wells Branch has a neighborhood parade each year on the 4th of July, which goes by our house on Water Well Lane. Our neighbors were in the parade, how fun.

Here is some video of the parade:

Our neighborhood parade,

And of course a couple of pic of our neighbor in the parade and the rest of the family watching;

We also went to the fire works display Tuesday evening in our neighborhood. It started to drizzle before the fireworks began, and continued throughout the display. We kind of hid under a tree, but many people brought umbrellas. We had a good time anyway.

Here is the video I took:

part 1 — ~5 minutes,
part 2 — ~5 minutes,
part 3 — Finale – ~48 seconds

We had a wonderful time at the Blowout. The weather was great, it only got hot for a shor time before the rain was supposed to hit, but the rain never came, so we just had nice cool overcast skys, great games, great music, great friends and a great time. Of course with every silver lining, there has to be a bit of a dark cloud, so we had a flat on the hospitality trailer. fortunately I had a can of flat fix in my bike for such an occasion and Don found an electric air pump in his trailer, so we just blew it up and went home Sunday morning after the service. I took a bunch of pictures and some video of the bike games, and the Sunday service.

Bike Games Video Clips:

Barrel Toss, Slow Race, Barrel Roll

Sunday Service at Tattor’s Park Video:

Don – Train Song
Don – Somebody Is Praying
Randy – Sunday Message

Here are a few pictures from the rally. (Click on a picture for a larger version)